One music business trend that I see growing and growing is brands investing in relatively unknown bands (artists) songs.  

In the business world, merging brands into entertainment is known as branded entertainment.  Brands such as Bacardi and Mountain Dew have recently announced their intentions to create branded entertainment using music.

This is a trend that should have no bounds.  Any consumer-facing company, regardless of size, should be able to engage in this practice, and any artist with a great song should be able to participate.  When done correctly, branded entertainment is an all-around win for brands, artists and music fans.


In this post, I am going to cover ten things brands should consider.
The goal of my ten things is to have one hundred, if not hundreds, of the best (and I mean the best) soon-to-famous artists (due to your efforts) in the world jumping up and down in support of a branded entertainment venture.  

1) Your branded entertainment venture should become cash flow positive.
Beyond achieving your marketing goals, your branded entertainment venture should be self-sustaining and cash flow positive within two years.

2) Don't create a record label.
Stay away from anything that looks, feels and sounds like a record label, especially the legal contracts used by record labels.  The legacy mindset and the methods that some record label refugees bring to the table will prevent your branded entertainment venture from realizing its' fullest potential.

3) Fund an independent venture that can transcend your brand.
If you don't want the venture to be perceived by artists and fans as a "brand slave", consider setting up your branded entertainment venture as an independent entity that could, in theory, completely breakaway from the mother ship someday.

4) Fund a structure whereby all incentives are aligned.
Consider creating an independent entity whereby every artist involved participates in any financial upside created.  Artists (representatives) would have several board seats, voting rights and open-book access to all information.  If you want 100% commitment, everyone's incentives have to be aligned.  If the venture decides to give songs away (for example), the venture should be built from the ground up to ensure that everyone involved benefits; anything less, will become a PR problem that everyone talks about on the Internet.
 
5) Don't require artists to give the venture exclusive rights (with one exception).
You are not creating a record label; you are creating something that is more analogous to a network of radio stations.  You don't need exclusive rights to songs or exclusive rights to services rendered by artists.  Your objective should be to quickly attract, without friction, numerous, quality artists to your terms and conditions.  The structure of the venture, the terms and the conditions (the deal) is what should hold artists in place, not exclusive contracts.  You want 100+ great artists jumping up and down for your brand; you don't want 100+ artists wishing they never signed away their rights.  Speed is more important than exclusivity here.  

6) The one exception - rights to the song name.  
The only exclusive rights you need are the exclusive rights to the name of the song that you are going to put into the song portfolio that will be promoted, published, licensed, streamed, downloaded, shared and sold.  All of the income generated from this activity will go into the venture that is jointly owned (or under a profit sharing arrangement) by all participants.  You can allow the artist to have the same exact rights under a different (derivative) song name.  (In other words, the artist will not use the same song name you will use.)

7) Filter 100,000 to 200,000 songs down to 100 to 200 great songs.
You are not looking for artists; you are looking for songs.  How the artist looks and how old the artist is, does not matter; the only thing that matters is the quality of the songs.  Make sure every song has sonic synergy (the songs fit together in a mix).  Using crowd-sourcing to find songs could be a mistake.  Contact me about putting together a plan to use a mix of technology and proven expertise to efficiently find the songs that fit your needs.   

8) Enable every artist involved to be a promo and merch machine.
Everything you need to enable every artist involved to promote the brand (music) and sell co-branded merchandise is available on the Internet.  Employ a graphic designer to create the best co-branded merchandise available.  Every artist is a potential retailer and every artist should have an incentive to push the entire portfolio/product line of songs and merchandise.

9) Your entertainment is music; your message has to be audio, but subtle.
Consider the least intrusive, most effective way to merge ad/sponsor spots into the music.  People tune out radio for two reasons: poor programming and intrusive ads; there are ways to ensure that neither happens.  Consider involving a committee of artists to produce messages that are both effective and unobtrusive.

10) Let the music do the talking.
Skip the superlatives, the social network build-out, and the fancy packaging, and let the music do the talking.  Nothing matters more to the success of the venture than the quality of the songs you put into the portfolio.   Artists that have zero traction in the marketplace own some of the best, unknown songs.  Finding these songs will be the difference between moderate and phenomenal success.  Invest in song funneling and song acquisition expertise if you want to build a successful branded entertainment venture.